Tour de France: 100 editions of the world's greatest bike race

A tale of endurance: Henri Desgrange, the editor of L'Auto, launched the Tour de France in 1903 in an effort in increase circulation of the newspaper. Though the race included just six stages organisers designed a race to test the riders' endurance with the longest clocking in at 467 kilometres, roughly 250km further than the longest in the 99th edition. France's Maurice Garin won the race before retaining his title in 1904, only to be stripped of his second title and handed a ban after being accused of taking the train during a stage - something that would be repeated almost a century laterPicture: LETOUR.FR / AFP